Drawer cabinet locking structure



March 28, 1950 s. G. BUDAI Erm. DRAWER CABINET LOCKING STRUCTURE Filed March 27, 1947 Mw NN NM1! QNJ `N .HNN N. $3 SMN N 4 f nu 1F M M E llll L! 0 a l N a M m m n H, n UIHHHHH HI NN MG n a5". E M ...f.|.H.||...H|i vw 3.a, NN. NN *n* .QN ewa n GMM: m NN .mUx Y S. hk I n .R& m mw. .QN WU www NN mv. WN. %\1 UQHNMHHUIEH .frvh S I x MNA Patented Mar. 28, 1950 UNITED STATES FFICE DRAWER CABINET LOCKING STRUCTURE Application March 27, 1947, Serial No. 737,508

(Cl. l15-94) 3 Claims.

This invention relates to a drawer cabinet locking structure and in particular to a structure suitable for locking a cabinet containing visible record trays.

With a cabinet of this type it is desirable that means be provided whereby, when all the drawers are closed, all drawers can be locked by means of a single lock. It is likewise desirable that if the cabinet has been locked before all the drawers have been closed that such drawers can be closed and locked without having to unlock the entire cabinet.

Structures for such purposes have been provided heretofore in connection with filing cabinets and desk pedestals and the like, but it is an object of our present invention to provide a structure which is simpler in construction and therefore less expensive to manufacture than any with which we are familiar. It is another object of our invention to provide a structure which is extremely simple to assemble and disassemble, whereby manufacturing costs are still further re duced. A further object of our invention includes the provision of a novel mounting for the lock whereby the lock can be installed in the cabinet in a minimum of time and without the use of special tools.

These and other objects of our invention which we shall describe in more detail hereinafter, or

which will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading this specification, we accomplish by that certain construction and arrangement of parts of which we shall now describe an exeme y plary embodiment.

Reference is made to the drawings forming a part hereof and in which:

Fig, 1 is a central vertical cross section through a Visible record cabinet embodying our invention.

Fig, 2 is a fragmentary view of the lower right hand corner of Fig. l, but with the locking strucn ture in its open position.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary cross sectional View taken on the line 3*-3 of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a fragmentary cross sectional view taken on the line d-fl of Fig. l.

Fig. 5 is a fragmentary perspective view of the 'bottom of the latch carrier.

Fig. 6 is a perspective View of the bottom strap member.

Fig. 7 is a fragmentary cross sectional View taken on the line 'l-l of Fig. 1 on an enlarged scale.

Fig. 8 is a perspective View of the lock mounting plate.

Briey in the practice of our invention we provide a lock at the front of the cabinet and preferably, although not necessarily, at the bottom thereof. The lock is preferably of the barrel type so that it is locked and unlocked by a rotation of its barrel. A rod extends from the lock barrel to the rear of the cabinet where it terminates in a crank element. The crank element actuates a latch carrier provided with a series of yieldable latches, one for each drawer in the cabinet.

lin Fig. l we have shown a cabinet having a bottom panel l il and a rear wall i l. The top wall is indicated at l2 and side walls at i3. The top, bottom, and side walls will preferably have inturned iiange portions to provide a frame M around the front of the cabinet. A series of runners l5 are provided for the drawers in the cab inet, some of which are indicated generally at iii. The drawers may be mounted in carriers Il by means of hangers i8, as disclosed in the copending application of John I-I. Brinker, Serial No. 736,543, filed March 22, 1947. The rear end of the drawer, as disclosed in said application is provided with a rolled edge id, and we make use of the rolled edge it for engagement with the latch member.

At the rear of the cabinet, we provide a latch carrier, indicated generally at 2d, upon which the individual latches are pivotally mounted. The latch carrier 2t itself is mounted for vertical sliding movement and is retained against the back wall il of the cabinet by a strap 2l at the top of the cabinet and a member '22 at the bottom of the cabinet. rIhe member 2l is shown in cross section in Fig. e and the member 22 is shown in plan in Fig. 3 and in perspective in Fig. 6. The member 22 has a cut out portion 23 which serves the same function at the bottom as the member 2i serves at the top. The member 22 is secured by spot welding or the like to the panel l0 and has other functions, which will be described hereinafter.

rEhe member 2d, as may be clearly seen in Fig. 4,

lis of double U cross section with the adjacent the drawers and have the cam surfaces 23, the function of which will be described hereinafter. At their rear ends, the latch members 2l are provided with the forks comprising the tine 33 and the tine 3l. The forks pivot respectively on pins 32 and are urged in a counterclockwise direction, as seen in Figs. 1 and 2 by the springs 33.

The individual latches are assembled to the carriers as follows: The pin 32 is inserted through the slot 25 and the spring 33 is slipped on to it so that the spring will surround the pin 32 and the latch member is then assembledwith the tines 3d and 3l embracing the pin 32, so that the tine 3l extends between the pin 32 and the joining portion 26 of the carrier. The forward end of the spring 33 is raised, and the hook element 33a is engaged over the top of the latch, It will be clear that when thus assembled, the pin 32 is held in the slot 25, and the latch 2l is pivotally mounted on the pin 32 and urged in a counterclockwise direction by the spring 33 to its limiting position, which is determined by the tine bearing against the joining portion 26 of the carrier.

The carrier is raised to unlock the drawers and lowered to lock the drawers by means of the rodll, which is connected as at 35 to the lock at the front of the cabinet and which is provided with the crank 36 at its rear end. The rear end of the rod 34 is supported in the semicircular notch 3l in the member 22 and the portion 33 of the member 22 is provided with a slot 35? to perinitpassage of the crank portion 35 during assembly. The portion 38 terminates in the flange il@ which `constitutes the upper bearing surface for the rod 3Q, while the notch 3l' constitutes the lower lbearing surface for said rod.

The carrier 20 at its bottom is provided with the member 12, which may be spot welded thereto and has in its front face, the horizontal slot d3. This slot is at least twice the eccentricity of the crank 36 in length. It will be clear that as the rod 34 is rotated through 180, the crank 36 riding in the slot d3 will raise or lower the entire carrier 2Q. The carrier is shown in its lowered position in Fig. 1 in which the hooks 2S of the latches can engage over the rolled edges l of the drawers. In the raised position of the carrier, shown in Fig. 2, the hooks 28 clear the rolled edges 'l il. If the carrier is in its lowered position,

as shown in Fig. l, and one or more drawers have not been fully closed, they can nevertheless be closed and locked by simply pushing them all the way in. When the rolled edge I9 abuts the cam surface 29 of the latch, the latch is caused to rise against the tension of the spring 33, until it can snap back over the rolled edge l0.

We prefer to use a lock of the barrel type having a barrel M provided with the key hole i3 and having a laterally extending lug 40. The forward end of the rod 34. is fastened in a fork at the rear end of the barrel, as by means of a screw lll. In this type of lock the lug M is held stationary while the barrel 44 turns therein.

We have provided a novel mounting plate for the lock, which plate is indicated generally at lid. This plate is provided with a flange lll and an upstanding abutment 50. It is also provided with the flange 5i having a clinching extension 52.

Al l) The plate 48 is fastened as by spot welding to the bottom panel l0, and the lock is assembled thereto as follows: the key hole end of the barrel is inserted through the aperture 53 in the front flange Elia of the cabinet and the lug bears against the ange dg and rests upon the abutment 50. rlille flange 5l extends upward past the lug and the portion 52 is clinched over at an angle, as shown in Figs. 7 and 8. In this condition the lock is securely held in place. 1t is held against forward movement by the wall l lla, and it is held against rearward movement by the clinching element 52. It is held against rotational movement in either direction by cooperation of the abutment 50 and the clinching element 52 with the lug A6.

With the lock installed as just described, the rod 34 can be inserted through the slot 39 and the slot 43, and it can then be fastened to the barrel by means of the screw lll, as previously described.

It is believed that the construction and operation of this device will be clear from the foregoing description. Various modifications may, of course, be made without departing from the spirit of the invention and therefore we do not intend to limit ourselves, except as set forth in the claims which follow.

Having now fully described our invention what we claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patent is:

1. In a cabinet having a series of superposed drawers and a lock, a carrier for a series of latch members equal in number to said drawers, said carrier being actuable by said lock, said carrier being substantially double U-shaped in crosssection with the ends of the adjacent frames of said Us joined together, said carrier being vertically disposed at the rear of said cabinet for limited vertical movement, and having a series of latch mounting slots equal in number to said drawers, said slots being horizontally disposed and extending through the joining portion between said Us and partially into the adjacent arms thereof.

V2. The structure of claim 1, in which each of said latch members has a forked rear portion, a pin in each of said slots,.said forked portion being engaged over said pin with the rear tine passing between said pin and said joining portion to hold said pin in place.

3. The structure of claim 2, in which a spring is provided for each latch member tending to rotate the same about said pin, said rotational movement being limited by contact of said rear tine with said joining portion.

STEVE G. BUDAI. JOHN H. BRINHR.

REFERENCES CHTEH] The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 309,205 Cowles Dec. 16, 1884 1,327,426 Erickson Jan. 6, 1920 1,606,178 Rand et al Nov. 9, i926 2,225,243 Zottel Dec. 17, 1940 2,309,863 North Feb. 2, 1943 

